Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Green Velvet Christmas Dress

The last time I was in Oklahoma, my mom gave me a few of her old clothes.  When she pulled this dress out of her closet, I got really excited.  Although it wasn't quite my style (and a little out dated), I fell in love with the gorgeous green velvet.




Looking back, I should have taken a before photo of the dress without the jacket.  I decided to transform only the long shell dress underneath.  Oh well... 

The first thing I did was cut off a foot or so.


My vision for this dress included quarter length sleeves.  The cut off bottom part would work lovely, but I'll get to that later.  I first put the dress inside out on my dress form, and sized it up.



I needed a quick sleeve pattern, so I removed the sleeves from the jacket.


I re-sized this new sleeve pattern by pinning it to the outside of the dress armhole. 


I then marked the edge of the sleeve, where I would need to trim.


Now that I had my new pattern, I used it on the cut off part of the dress.


I had just enough fabric for two sleeves.  Lucky!


To finish off the sleeves, I hemmed the bottom edges, and stitched them up the seams.  I then turned my dress inside out and put the sleeves, right sides inside with the armholes matching. I then sewed around the edges. 


Lastly, I hemmed the bottom of the dress by stitching the edges down and then turning them over again and stitching another round. 

Done!  This dress turned out beautifully, and it's perfect for Christmas.

 


I still have the lacy jacket (now sleeveless), and I have not idea what to do with it.  Any suggestions?
 

15 comments:

  1. I love this! That was a good call with the sleeves.

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    1. Thank you! I think the sleeves brings the dress up-to-date.

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  2. Beautiful job on your dress! It looks great on you!

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  3. You did such a great job with this dress, I love it!

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    1. What a generous comment,Rachel. Thank you and Happy New Year!

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  4. I love you in green. You look so beautiful. I'm curious to see what you do with the over jacket.

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  5. I would say just wear the lace thing as a vest over top of a long sleeve shirt or turtleneck. Make it fitted, and tie a velvet ribbon or something around the waist as a belt. Do you have any scraps left from the dress?

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    1. This is a great idea, vintagevogue! I don't have any scraps, but I like the idea of a nice velvet ribbon. Hmm... I could even add a little peplum bottom from the lace sleeves.

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  6. That turned out so well. I like the length of the sleeves. As for the jacket, I have zero imagination. All I can think of is a bolero vest over the dress, and I THINK that's something from the 70's (?) that you probably shouldn't do! I like the idea from vintagevogue, above.

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    1. It seems as though bolero vests are in! I just Googled some pics and I love them. Great idea!

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  7. That sweater dress is therefore cute! it's my lucky variety thereon too! lovely job on your wedding dress ! it's nice on you!

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    1. Thank you, sanam arzoo! Happy New Year! I have yet to wear my wedding dress top out. I would love to finish a skirt to go with it.

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  8. Such a satisfaction to have discovered your blog! Greetings from Florida. If you ever see one of my designs that you like, I'd really like to deliver it to you as a present to design with your charming Dress. We have a huge fan platform worldwide.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts!